Property technology company PointData, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically assess development potential of all the residential land sites in capital cities, intends to raise $11 million by June to accelerate their expansion plans.
PointData uses patented technology, that has up to 24 unique data points on each property, to provide real-time valuations which change in line with broader market shifts and with what is most sought after amongst real estate buyers.
Despite prospective interest rate increases, Chief Executive Officer, George Giannakodakis, remains positive that this should only further demand for the provider’s services due to growing need for buyers to maximise their return potential.
“If anything, it makes people want to use it more,” Mr Giannakodakis told The Australian Financial Review in response to the likelihood of rate rises as the Reserve Bank foresees inflation.
The company, based in Adelaide, says that it is returning to high-net-worth investors and family offices first as they begin the fundraising for this next leg. In the past four years, PointData has raised $5.4 million in seed and Series A funding.
PointData set up a Western Australian arm in December and is now making plans to expand to the Eastern seaboard with Victoria first on the list of eastern state markets.
The company is estimated to have full coverage of all capital cities in Australia within 12-18 months and has just appointed two Sydney-based directors. PointData is also chaired by Con Tragakis, a former KPMG SA chairman of partners.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) extended its support to Greece in 2021 with a €5 billion investment for businesses which have been affected by COVID-19 and to shift the nation to clean energy.
Through the European Guarantee Fund, EIB offered €2.7 billion in guarantees to help companies affected by COVID-19 and lockdowns secure loans through Greece’s four largest lenders Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank and Piraeus Bank.
Piraeus Bank.
Through these guarantees, more than €6 billion in tourism, green energy and digital economy will be mobilised, as stated by Finance Minister Christos Staikouras.
According to an EIB statement, the EU finance body has signed an agreement with the Greek finance ministry “to help manage up to €5 billion as part of Greece’s implementation of the national recovery and resilience plan, known as ‘Greece 2.0’.”
In #Athens, we signed an agreement with @Citi to release €350 million to Greek export and import #SMEs and midcaps through the innovative Trade Finance Facilitation initiative.#Greece🇬🇷 is the only country in Europe to benefit from such an initiative 👉https://t.co/Fh6irxZbVxpic.twitter.com/0OfEnvo1nS
These funds are due to be received from the European Union’s pandemic recovery fund in the coming years.
Athens is due to receive €19.4 billion in grants and €12.7 billion in cheap loans from the fund, an equivalent of about 16 percent of its gross domestic product.
The Greek government plans to use the funds to make the nation’s economy greener and push its digital presence.
National Head of Research at Oliver Hume, George Bougias, has shared his predictions for the Australian property market in an interview with Capstone Property.
Mr Bougias said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the property market has been significantly impacted by record low interest rates, working from home and government support, especially the HomeBuilder incentive.
“We also saw many people transacting property through online platforms, such as our own proprietary platform, which was quite new for the sector,” Mr Bougias added.
On the topic of technology, the property economist stressed how it “removes many unknowns, makes it easier overall and enables many buyers to secure a property without the need to travel.”
“This shift to purchasing property online, in some cases sight unseen, is here to stay,” Mr Bougias said.
“People can choose a block of land and transact everything online. This is a big opportunity for buyers to transact quickly and seamlessly – you can, effectively, secure property in a few clicks of the mouse.
In the beginning, the historic Communities of the Hellenes (Greeks and Cypriots) were founded and operated, one in each State capital city of Australia. Concurrently the pre-war islander colonies of Kytherians, Kastellorizians and Ithacans were also established.
Back then, the pre-war Hellenism of Australia did not exceed 15,000-17,000 souls. Then came the post-war migration and settlement of 270,000 Hellenes. They arrived and settled without systemic order, without a designed program, without infrastructure.
The Greeks of the pre-war period, and their community institutions, displayed little interest towards their welfare. Most treated them with prejudice, perhaps even with hostility. They did not welcome them as their compatriots. They assessed them as socially inferior.
Most of the Greeks of the pre-war period, after all, were not economic migrants and did not belong to any government-control immigration program. Most were curious merchants, certain deprived businessmen, restaurateurs, café owners; Many of them were literate, some were adventurers, others were gold diggers, others were people who had already made their own history in Egypt and in eastern European countries.
The Greeks of the pre-war period had structured their organization on a class basis. They had the middle bourgeoisie, the stakeholders, the restaurateurs, and merchants, the educated who also wrote in the English-language newspapers.
The Greek immigrants of the post-war period were agrarians and proletarians, unskilled and untrained labourers. People of hard work, thrift in spending, trying to amass some savings to accomplish their dream. To raise and house their family, to educate their children. There was no middle class, there were few literate people, even fewer stakeholders, and patrons.
The vast majority of them were unskilled labourers. They were lacking people to guide them, to formulate a program, a strategy for their future. They were devoted Orthodox faithful, they worshipped their homeland, especially their village, and were keenly interested in the Greek education for their children, what they had been deprived of. That’s it. They built humble temples, erected economic buildings according to their financial ability. They also constructed or acquired some halls, after renting them for their social events. They too were poor buildings, in which they attributed great names, “Parthenon”, “Olympus”, etc.
After the first twenty years, when they overcame the stone years of survival, after 1975, and for the next twenty-thirty years, recklessly, without a program, without understanding of the future, they began to be dominated by parochial chauvinism. They began creating their associations, fraternities, organizations, ramparts, and fortresses for their specific villages; thus, satisfying their social needs and egos.
They were rightly overwhelmed by the desire and passion to guard the local customs, to promote the local customs, to meet each other, to socialize and create an opportunity to marry their children. And together with the genesis of their clubs, and with the hard work and the human face of volunteerism, they bought houses, shops, buildings, and halls to accommodate their communal organizations. They were captivated by the idea of privately owned, by the illusion of the property ownership.
THE BRICKOMANIA
It is true that this epidemic crisis of brickomania that dominated the community life of the Greeks (1975-2005), also substantially united them. The effort to pay off the debt, forced them to collaborate, to keep their clubs and of course to have the opportunity to argue, quarrel and project divisive practices.
The primary purpose of each president was not simply the harmony between the members, but the acquisition of housing. And success was not considered to be the service of the members, neither the provision of culture, or the provision of entertainment to the members, but to what extent the income of the association increased in the “bouko” of the bank (passbook of deposits).
And then all those who ruled and all those who acter as recipients and members of these services were only young, at their forties, in their fifties. They still had stamina to quarrel, resilience to fight, compelling with their mode of behavior, prospective young members to abstain from being members and successors.
AGEING
After 2010, when fifty years passed since the first mass migration and those who were born in the thirties were by now eighty-year-old, severe ageing and decline began. Almost 93% of Greek immigrants were born from 1920-1949. In 2021 their average age was 83-84 years old. In 2032, the average year span will rise to 93 years old (how many of the 270,000 immigrants will be fortunate to live until their 93rd birthday?).
Ageing has brought the forced emergence of nursing homes (I call them leprosy islands, a lucrative operation of a burial vestibule), along with the devastations of the community organizations, their inability of the aged members to meet, and in several cases having the ambulances stationed outside the meeting offices.
Ageing also prevented the functions of the General Assemblies. There were no quorum in most cases and thus not deliberations, as less than 50-60 tired, and dug from life, ageing members of the generation of the 1930s, and 1940s attended.
Postponement of meetings everywhere, cancellation of meetings, inability to take decisions. The decline appeared with the face of levelling our clubs. Many of them have two and three years to convene. The mass weddings of the 1960s and 1970s were replaced now by mass funerals and memorial services. Wedding and christening shops were replaced by funeral parlors. The sale of houses and blocks of land was replaced with sales of tombs in luxurious cemeteries, and indeed as the advertisement emphasized three years ago, “blessed plots by the hand of our Archbishop…”.
THE DESERTED BUILDINGS
If we exclude the building complexes of our Greek and Cypriot Communities, the buildings of our Orthodox Archdiocese, including the churches, if we exclude our day schools with their facilities, the nursing homes, the social welfare organizations of Hellenism and several large associations that have strong self-municative and autonomous financial budgets, such as the Greek Clubs, the buildings of our associations and fraternities are in the process of sublimation, of leveling.
Only buildings of organizations that provide services and create relationships of dependence of the operator with the receiving members, that is, those who accept the services, will be able to be kept in the coming years. Only these buildings of the institutions of dependency with the base of members, and those Greek and Cypriot institutions subsidized by the state coffers, will survive. Only buildings that receive annual grants from the Government for the work carried out will be able to stand the test of time.
What about most buildings and properties belonging to the community associations and fraternities: The geometrical ageing of Hellenism has brought the abandonment of buildings, their desolation. Bats and spiders, grassy doors, windows that have been stuck by time in their crates, floors that have now sunk from uselessness, buildings that enter water and air.
Most of these buildings remain in ruins, because their restoration, or their renovation so that they can finally at least be rented and bring about income for their beneficiaries, requires spending tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some dare and move on, respecting their institutions. They renovate and rent them. Others, most of them, live with the state of inaction. Some leave buildings in decline because they have in mind some selfish appetites. Some rent them to then benefit the few remaining members.
These buildings belong to the Diaspora, because these buildings were bought and paid with the obolus of the Omogenia. It is the property of the Greeks of Australia. The destiny of these properties must be the subject of deep thought, of wise reflection. Their temporary owners should try to put the common interest above their own personal benefit and their egos and transfer these properties to those foundations and organizations that will continue in the future.
The institutions that have continuity and mission in the years to come are the historical Greek Orthodox Communities in the capitals of the States. The Communities are mother feeder of the historical structure and well-being of Hellenism.
The historical Communities must accept the donation of the buildings and as a consideration and in return to create new services of offer to the Hellenes and their children. They should create numerous pre-school centers, bilingual centers in many suburbs, also bilingual kindergartens and child-minding centers, sports academies, schools of theatre and choir for young people, a cultural centre with demands – theatres, cinema, Members’ Clubs with prestige and status, not gambling and card-playing centers.
Naturally, such a decision is difficult, because we Greeks by nature are competitive, narcissists, mainly suspicious and uncompromising. That is why we created democracy, so that we can all be in charge…
*Professor Anastasios M. Tamis taught at Universities in Australia and abroad, was the creator and founding director of the Dardalis Archives of the Hellenic Diaspora and is currently the President of the Australian Institute of Macedonian Studies (AIMS).
Inaki Lamua is 26 years old, born in Barcelona, lives in Madrid and has studied journalism. In a short time he conquered the hearts of Greek users on TikTok, as he counts more than 165,000 followers on his profile under the name @greek_vibes, posting particularly positive comments about his Greek.
Through The Greek Herald he sends his own message that “Greece is not only beaches,” speaks about the difficulties of our language, does not hide his love for pitogyra and gemista, and laughs when he tells us what his favourite Greek word is and what Greek name he would like to have.
1.Where are you from?
I’m from Barcelona but I’ve been living in Madrid for four years. I am a journalist and I work in the field of marketing at the moment.
2. How did your love for Greece come about?
It started from a very young age with music. Later I had the opportunity to come to Greece when I was 14. I fell in love with your country immediately and began very easily to bond with the people there, the culture, and of course your language.
3.When did you start to speak Greek?
After my first trip to Greece, I decided that I had to learn Greek because I wanted to understand you and communicate with you. I shall never forget my first time in your country. I was only 14 years old and I had come for the Camera Zizanio Film Festival.
4. How hard was it at first? How did you start taking lessons?
It was very difficult in general (laughs). Maybe it was even harder because I learned Greek by myself without help. Later when I made friends in Greece I started to learn from them as well.
5. What are your favourite places in Greece? How often do you visit our country?
Lately I come once a year but I would like to come more times. I can’t tell you exactly my favourite places because I have a lot to see yet but I fell in love with Athens and Santorini.
6. What is it that has captivated you so much from our country?
Of course, your culture and hospitality that are unique elements of your country’s identity.
7. Do you speak other languages?
Yes, I speak Spanish of course (laughs), Catalan, English and a little French and Italian.
8.What is your favourite Greek word?
The one everyone around the world knows: M@L@K@$ (laughter). I love pitogyra and gemista.
9. What is the message you want to send to the world through your love for Greece and our language?
I want to show the world that Greece is not only beaches and islands. I would like to promote your culture and share it with the Spaniards – I also very much want to show the Spanish culture to the Greeks.
10. Do you like Greek music?
I love Greek music, there are a lot of folk songs I listen to. My favourite singer is Eleni Foureira.
11.Is there something that makes it difficult for you to learn our language better?
Yes! Surely there are too many things but I believe the verbs are the hardest part.
12. If you could choose a Greek name for yourself, what would that be?
He laughs. He thinks for a few seconds and answers us: “Very good question… I don’t know, but I really like the name Alexandros.”
Vince Tesoriero, the business partner of alleged fraudster Bill Papas, has launched a bid to have the civil case brought against him by Westpac thrown out because it is “very weak.”
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Tesoriero is also seeking to stop liquidators from selling two luxury properties in Wagstaffe on the NSW Central Coast that are jointly owned via a trust by him and Mr Papas.
Westpac and two other lenders, Société Générale and Sumitomo, have filed Federal Court civil action alleging Mr Papas and his company Forum Finance orchestrated a $500 million fraud against the banks.
Westpac has accused Mr Tesoriero of being part of the conspiracy with Mr Papas to commit the fraud against the bank and knowingly assisting Mr Papas in conducting it.
It’s the end of an era for Shellharbour’s iconic fish and chip shop, Olympic Takeaway, as the Kollias family decide to hand over the keys after 36 years.
The shop was opened in 1986 by Theo and Helen Kollias and they’ve been running it ever since with the help of their two sons and daughter.
One of their sons, John Kollias, told the Illawarra Mercury they will miss their regular customers but it’s time for a welcome break.
Kollias family close Olympic Takeaway in Shellharbour after 36 years.
“It’s hard because this is all we know, but [it’s time for] a new chapter in life,” John told the newspaper.
Over the years, Olympic Takeaway has continued to cook chips and potato scallops fresh and kept the ice cream bar and milkshake makers, even as other takeaway stores have adopted newer culinary trends.
Now a new owner has been found to take on the business. They plan to keep the shop functioning as a takeaway store.
A man who claimed the prominent Polites family owed him $3 million in compensation for “fraud, perjury and false and misleading statements” has been declared a vexatious litigant by South Australia’s Supreme Court, The Advertiser reports.
Douglas Charles Russell is now prohibited from instituting proceedings in any SA court against Polites Investments, or any related company or person, without the Supreme Court’s approval.
This decision by Justice Sophie David marks the end of a 20-year court saga for the Polites family.
Polites Investments.
Mr Russell first took the former family patriarch, Con Polites, to court back in August 20, 2000, to stop his eviction from a business premises at 254 Hindley Street. These court proceedings were later retracted.
Since then, Mr Russell has launched numerous proceedings against the family, including an action in 2003 alleging he’d slipped on the stairs at the premises three times, injuring his back on each occasion.
Following yet another attempt by Mr Russell to bring an action against Polites in 2020, the company applied to have Mr Russell declared a vexatious litigant.
Polites family triumphs in $3 million, 20-year court battle.
During the court case, Justice David said the “parties’ litigious relationship” demonstrates that “Mr Russell has sought to agitate and re-agitate substantially the same issues in numerous forums before multiple judicial officers.’’
In response, Justice David has made orders restraining Mr Russell from instituting any further proceedings against Polites without the consent of the court, and also ordered he pay Polites’ costs.
Greece has lent Italy an ancient statue of the goddess Athena in return for Italy’s long-term loan to the Acropolis Museum of a fragment of the Parthenon Marbles,AP News reports.
The late 5th century BC statue will be displayed in Palermo’s Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum for four years. It will then be replaced by an 8th century BC Greek vase for another four years.
This move by Greece follows Italy’s decision in January to loan the Fagan fragment from the Parthenon frieze to the Acropolis Museum.
The Fagan fragment, which was part of a 160-metre-long frieze that ran around the outer walls of the Parthenon, was loaned to Greece for eight years but Italy has also been pushing for its permanent return.
Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, who travelled to Italy for the handover ceremony, said Greece’s gesture “reciprocates the generosity” of the Italian institution.
Greece hopes the loan will boost its campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum.
“[The deal with Italy] indicates the path that London can follow,” Mendoni said on the day.
According to the latest statistics nearly one in five people living in Australia speak a language other than English at home, with Greek remaining in the top ten dominant ones despite a decrease in recent years.
From the 1820s when the first Greeks came to the country through to the mass migration periods that occurred between the 1950s and the 1970s, when Modern Greek programs were introduced at all levels in the Australian education system, students of different backgrounds continue to learn the language.
On the occasion of International Greek Language Day on February 9, Macquarie University Modern Greek students Safia, Jorden and Mamadu explain why they chose to learn a different language.
Safia: ‘So many words in English have Greek origins’
Born and bred in Maroubra to a Lebanese father and a Romanian mother, Safia, 26, decided to return to university last year to study Speech and Hearing Sciences after her career as a dental assistant reached a plateau.
“I looked at the languages available and Greek just made the most sense! My partner is Greek and Australian so I thought it would be really helpful as a way of connecting further with his family, especially his father who immigrated to Australia from Greece as a young man,” she says.
“Greece is also my favourite holiday destination and so I thought it would come in handy in the future when I return. This time I will be able to say a lot more than just ‘γεια σου!’”
For Safia, acquiring a new language requires time and dedication but it’s fascinating.
“So many words in English have Greek origins -I sound like the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding… but it’s true!
Safia with her partner
“It’s also exciting when I learn a Greek word that is semantically similar to a Romanian word, meaning they’re cognates -words that sound the same and mean the same thing but in different languages.”
Asked about her favourite Greek phrase the student says it’s “πάμε να φάμε” (let’s go eat).
“It’s random and sentimental but one of my closest friends that I met in high school is Greek and for as long as I’ve known her, we’ve stopped at her grandmother’s house so many times over the years to check in and see how she is going.
“Then we’d usually head out to grab some food. Whenever she [grandmother] would ask my friend where we were going, she would reply to her grandmother “πάμε να φάμε”. After years of hearing that phrase it became a part of my vocabulary and I’d ended up saying it too.”
Her advice to people who wish to learn Greek is “to immerse themselves in it as much as possible”.
“Learning any language as an adult can be difficult and it does require dedication and patience. But it is so rewarding once you start stringing together sentences and communicating!
“Greek is such a vibrant, rich and beautiful language which is representative of the history, culture and its people.”
Jorden: ‘Take every opportunity to speak Greek’
Jorden, 22, whose maternal and paternal grandparents hail from Greece and North Macedonia respectively, recently completed his undergraduate studies and says he chose to learn the language as a way to expand his intellectual capacity.
“I chose Greek specifically because I really enjoyed the company of my Greek family members, and because the Greek language, although not unchanged, is one of the oldest known languages, and many of the classics were written in Ancient Greek,” he says.
“What fascinates me are the connections and similarities between Greek and English, the points at which the languages intertwine.
Jorden with his family
“Detecting these similarities not only helped me to grasp the language more effectively, but also gave me a deeper understanding of where some English words come from. Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about aspects of Greek culture alongside the language.”
Asked about his favourite expression Jorden says it’s “Μάλλιασε η γλώσσα μου” meaning ‘my tongue became hairy’ because I have tried to tell you something many times.
“Metaphor is a common theme in Greek sayings and expressions, and that’s exactly why I love them!”
His advice to aspiring Greek learners is to “not allow the magnitude and difficulty of the task to deter you.”
“Once you grasp the basic elements of grammar, you can spend hours practising and absorbing vocabulary by reading and writing in your own time. Start off with very simple texts that you can understand, then progress to more difficult ones, and do not be afraid to use a dictionary!
“Speaking can be more difficult to practice, especially if you are like me and do not have native speakers around frequently. I overcame this obstacle in my second year by teaming up with a classmate of mine who was a native speaker, although not formally educated, and together we practised speaking a few times each week,” he says.
“Take every opportunity you can find to speak Greek, and you will find that you will improve very quickly.”
Mamadu: ‘More than a language’
Mamadu, was born in Sydney to parents from Sierra Leone. He undertook Greek studies as an elective to better understand her Greek group of friends.
“What’s interesting about the Greek language is that it massively differs from the English language, being the male and female vowels, pronunciation, structuring of sentences, and that a lot of other languages follow a similar structure so I thought it would be a great starting point,” he said.
Mamadu (first from R) with his Greek Studies Class
“One of my favourite quotes is ‘Έτσι είναι η ζωή’. This is a saying that roughly translates to “Life is Like that”. Meaning that some things in life are out of our control.”
Mamadu explains that learning Greek has given him an insight on how Hellenic culture has influenced the western civilisation.
“The culture is so rich and deep that you definitely get more out than you put in. When learning just the language, you can see how it has actually transgressed over to even the English language and even played a part in the Australian culture for instance.
“Greek is more than just a language. It comes with the rich cultural background and deepens your own knowledge making you more conscious of the people around you,” Mamadu says.
